The Future of Consumerist

Over the last twelve years, Consumerist has been a steadfast proponent and voice on behalf of consumers, from exposing shady practices by secretive cable companies to pushing for action against dodgy payday lenders. Now, we’re joining forces with Consumer Reports, our parent organization, to cultivate the next generation of consumer advocacy.

Stay tuned as Consumerist’s current and future content finds its home as a part of the Consumer Reports brand. In the meantime, you can access existing Consumerist content below, and we encourage you to visit Consumer Reports to read the latest consumer news.

Jack thought he was getting a good deal when he signed up for $15/month DSL service from AT&T seven months ago. But in the short time since, he’s experienced a full month’s worth of outages and has quickly tired of constantly dealing with AT&T’s tech support (or lack thereof). Luckily, Jack reads Consumerist and was able to employ some tactics he’s learned over the years… and end up saving $140 in the process.

Jack has his own DSL modem which means he doesn’t have a contract or commitment with AT&T. But he couldn’t manage to convince the first CSR he spoke to, who insisted there was a contract and that Jack would incur a $125 early termination fee for canceling.

Here’s Jack in his own words:

I asked for his supervisor to call me to discuss this ridiculousness and (guess what!) the supervisor never did.

So I called back to AT&T and got a new CSR who was, simply, night-and-day from the first CSR. Not only did he agree to cancel my service without a fee, he also agreed to give me a one month credit to my account for my troubles and to reimburse me for the various outages (something I did not ask for, but was pleasantly surprised to receive).

Needless to say, it is CSRs like that that earn my loyalty. While I canceled my DSL today, AT&T will be first on my list for consideration if/when I decide to change my internet/TV provider, solely because of the excellent service this guy provided me (although I will never again use their DSL service).

Just goes to show you the truth behind a Consumerist axiom: If at first you don’t get a good CSR, try, try again.